When this hack looks back at a career of sportswriting at Syracuse, there will be two things he remembers. Two and only two:

The 60-foot buzzer-beater Cleveland State guard Cedric Jackson sank to beat Syracuse in the Dome back on Dec. 15, and

The six-overtime classic at Madison Square Garden on March 12, a game that has already ingrained itself in Syracuse lore as one of the school’s greatest ever.

In two weeks, I’ll leave Syracuse University and become an alumnus, after four years as a student and 149 articles as a journalist for this newspaper. And of all the events I covered – whether it was swimming, lacrosse, soccer or anything else – these two may be the only ones I remember when I look back 10 years down the road.

The Cleveland State game is one most SU fans would rather forget, and many probably have by now. It spent a few hours on SportsCenter, made some headlines the next day and then was largely forgotten as a novelty.

But that game sticks with me. Not so much the shot, but the reaction by the fans. Ever seen 15,000 people go dead silent and stare wide-eyed as if they’ve seen a murder? It’s eerie.

Maybe that game stays with me because it’s reminiscent of my first memory of a live sporting event: Sept. 24, 1994. Colorado at Michigan football. With the final seconds ticking off the clock, CU quarterback Kordell Stewart threw a 64-yard Hail Mary pass to beat the Wolverines.

That time, it was 106,000 people that went dead silent. I remember then, as a 7-year-old, being in awe, looking around seeing hands on heads, mouths wide open and dead silent. Grown men cried. People filed to the exits like they were leaving church.

The scene was much the same on the December night in the Carrier Dome, so I guess I have come full circle. I was 15 years older, but the scene still hit me just as hard. How sports could have such a profound effect on people, like almost nothing else I’d ever seen. It made my job from the press row seem a little more important.

Three months later, that same basketball team would provide another eye-opening experience. No need to give the background on that Big East semifinal against Connecticut. Everyone in the country knows the details of it. But there was something about being there and watching the historic event unfolded in front of me from high in Madison Square Garden.

There’s a stereotype among sportswriters that we all hate sports. It seems counterintuitive, sure. But consider the hours we spend taking notes on games, dealing with tired, sweaty athletes that don’t want to talk to us, not to mention the countless hours editing.

It wears. And it can breed disdain for your topic – something I admit I’ve been guilty of a few times over the past year.

But during that game, for the first time in a while, nothing felt like work. I felt like a fan again, excited about the ending, on the edge of my seat. I didn’t mind working through the night until 7 a.m. in the Madison Square Garden press room afterward. After taking the morning train out of the city, I still couldn’t sleep for another hour or two as the adrenaline wore off.

As I bid farewell to these pages, there’s not a lot to be optimistic about the career I’m about to embark on. I’m entering a crowded profession in a dying industry during an economic recession. It would have been easy to hang it up over the last couple of years. I almost did.

But more than the frustration, the late nights and lack of a social life, I’ll remember those two games from my career here. They remind me why I do what I do.

Kyle Austin was the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns will no longer appear. Contact him at kylebaustin@gmail.com

-30-

 

Published on April 27, 2009 at 12:00 pm